Day 189 – Jonah Flees & Prays

• If you’ve been finding the recent studies on king after king a little hard to handle, you’ll enjoy the passages today and tomorrow, as we focus on one of the most famous prophets of them all: Jonah! It’s important to note the verses in 2 Kings though, as it helps us to put Jonah into context alongside the history we’ve been studying, which (in Israel) see the king Jeroboam II on the throne. We’re going to focus on the story of Jonah in today’s notes though, rather than the king.
• Where did God tell Jonah to go? Where did he decide to go instead? Look at a map of these two locations to get a glimpse of just how far away Tarshish was.
• Jonah, as I mentioned earlier, was a prophet. Why do you think he ran away from the job God gave him? Consider, for example, the fact that Ninevah was an “evil” place, and lay many hundreds of miles away from the Promised Land, in the enemy territory of Assyria. What might Jonah have been thinking about as he decided to not go?
• What situation did Jonah’s disobedience cause? How were the sailors that Jonah sailed with affected by Jonah’s behaviour? Have you ever been hurt by someone else’s bad choices, or the other way round?
• What good thing came from the sailor’s experience with Jonah, as shown in the final verses of Jonah 1?
• Why do you think God caused the storm and the experience with the fish? Do you think this rather crazy experience was important? Have you ever had strange circumstances in the past which have helped you to understand something more clearly?
• How does Jonah’s attitude change in chapter 2? Does any of his prayer resonate with you as being especially valid or relatable?
• Jesus referenced Jonah’s time in the fish in Matthew 12:40. Take a look! What event does Jesus link it to?

For further thinking, spend some time considering how we act like Jonah. We have a job to share the news of the gospel, but we often run away from that task. Why? Because we’re scared? Because we don’t like the people we’re talking to? Because they are our enemies? Because we think God wouldn’t be interested in them, or even worse, we hope He wouldn’t?

Spend some time praying over your “excuses list”. We all struggle with this, so don’t beat yourself up, but be encouraged as you see people in the Scriptures making excuses too, and the grace that God gives them to give them another chance!